Choosing a survey level
The single survey in a Home Report says it did not lift carpets. Why is that a limit of the inspection rather than a pass for the floors?
Not lifting the carpets is a limit of the inspection, not a pass for the floors. The single survey in the Home Report says the carpets stayed down, so the finishes hid whatever is underneath. Boards, joists and decking that stayed covered were not seen, and unseen is not the same as sound. A Home Report is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to. It is not an English Level 2 survey you instruct yourself. The sentence about carpets marks a limit. It does not award the floors a clean result. The report has not described a floor it did not uncover.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Carpets and other fixed coverings stop a surveyor seeing the surface that spans the room. A single survey which says it did not lift them is telling you the floor structure sat outside the inspection, except where a loose edge or a hatch already showed something. That is a limitation. Reading it as a pass would turn a refusal to look into a positive finding the surveyor did not make. The floors may be fine. The report has not said so.
Use the Home Report as what it is: the Scottish pack a purchaser is pointed to, with a single survey that states its limits. Do not treat that single survey as an English Level 2 you chose and briefed yourself. Ask the solicitor how the carpet limit sits among the papers. If the floors need to be seen, that is a further inspection with the coverings up, not a kinder reading of this sentence. Leaving the carpets down has not passed the floors.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did the single survey state that the carpets were not lifted?
- Is that sentence a limit of inspection rather than a pass for the floors?
- Which floor areas stayed covered and therefore unseen?
What are the typical next steps?
- Read the carpet sentence as a limit of the inspection.
- Do not treat the covered floors as passed.
- Ask the solicitor how that limit sits in the Home Report.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If no floor was marked as damaged, is that a pass?
No. Silence about floors that stayed covered is the result of not looking, not a judgement that they are sound. The single survey said the carpets were not lifted. A Home Report is not an English Level 2 you instruct yourself. Concealed floors that carry no comment are still inside that limit. They are not a pass.
Can you instruct this single survey again as your own Level 2?
No. A Home Report is the Scottish product a purchaser is pointed to. The single survey inside it is not an English Level 2 you instruct yourself, and wanting a fuller look does not change it into one. If the carpets need to come up, that is a different inspection. This report has already stated the limit.